Transformers One, the latest installment in the Transformers franchise, is the most recent telling of the origin story between iconic arch-enemies Optimus Prime, Chris Hemsworth, and Megatron, Brian Tyree Henry, then known as Orion Pax and D-16, respectively. Released on September 20, 2024, Transformers One describes how Pax’s and D-16’s seemingly unbreakable friendship crumbled, rebuilding them–quite literally–into the iconic Autobot and Decepticon leaders we know today.
Transformers is one of the most well known continuous franchises, starting as a simple toy line by a collaboration between America’s Hasbro and Japan’s TakaraTomy in ‘84 with a fully-animated television show, the highly popular The Transformers, as a backup. Now, after forty years of expanding and growing continuity after continuity, Transformers has become one of the most beloved and famous franchises across the globe.
Transformers One, directed by Josh Cooley, is the first fully-animated Transformers movie ever since the original 1986 The Transformers: The Movie. It’s also the first of its kind to have been set on the Transformers’ home planet Cybertron, meaning that the Autobots’ usual human allies have no place in this film, giving way more space for the shapeshifting alien robots to take center stage. We get to see Orion, D-16, and their sort of friends, the ironically talkative Bumblebee, then known as B-127, Keegan Michael-Key, and Elita-1, Scarlett Johansson, embark on a journey to prove that they are truly “more than meets the eye.” They pursue this by gaining their abilities and learning the truth about their corrupt leader, Sentinel “Prime,” Jon Hamm, through the ancient, dying Prime Alpha Trion, Laurence Fishbacke. However, the bonds between Orion and D-16 are noticeably strained over time, paving a way to their future roles as enemies.
Transformers One has some of the best writing a Transformers film has ever seen. Since the first 2007 Transformers film was released all of them have received low Rotten Tomatoes scores. Out of the 8 movies so far, Transformers One and Bumblebee are the only two films to receive a score higher than the first movie’s 57%, with Bumblebee’s 91% pulling ahead of Transformers One by only 3 points on the Tomatometer.
The characters, especially D-16/Megatron, are incredibly well-written, giving a sense of self that was never really specified in the other films. “Bayverse” Bumblebee’s lack of a voice makes this incredibly talkative version of him all the more ironic and hilarious.
The movie is filled with clever quips, easter eggs, and laughs along the way. It also sets up several milestones that build on who the characters grow to become. This includes Orion gaining the Matrix and becoming Optimus Prime, D-16 learning the truth of his government and becoming Megatron as a result, and the start of the two iconic Cybertronian factions as a whole.
Overall, Transformers One is an amazing reenactment of how Optimus and Megatron came to be, alongside several nostalgic throwbacks of several Transformers memorabilia along the way. This film is a definite crowd-pleaser, especially for die-hard Transformers fans. It could be the greatest addition to the franchise so far.
